178 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[August 18, 1888. 



herbarist ? Whither did the poets hunt for their 

 syncere delights, but in the gardens of Aloinous, 

 of Adonis, and the orchards of Hesperides ? 

 Where did they dreame that heaven should be 

 but in the pleasant garden of Elysium ? " As a 

 matter of bibliographic interest, it may be pointed 

 out that some copies of the Herbal have no por- 

 trait engraved by W. Rogers, which, when 

 present, is engraved on the reverse of the last 

 leaf of the preface. Another impression appears 

 to have been called for in 1599 ; another in 1633, 

 which was enlarged by T. Johnson ; and another 

 in 1636; but for over a century this famous 

 work was the one botanical, herbal, and hor- 

 ticultural authority. We should very much like 

 to make something more than a mere in- 

 cidental reference to Gerard's descriptions of 

 the Goose Tree, or Barnackle Tree, the Stonie 

 Wood, or woode-made stones, sponges, and corals, 

 but space does not permit. We may say, how- 

 aver, in leaving a most interesting subject, that 

 the Herbal has no fewer than four indices, and 

 that Gerard himself died in 1607. 



In pointing out the broad characteristics of the 

 adaptability to our English climate and scenery of 

 the Elizabethan style of architecture, a writer in 

 Fraser's Magazine of over a quarter of a century 

 ago expressed surprise that, while so much 

 attention has been paid to the study of this style 

 for country residences, but comparatively little 

 has been done for promoting a knowledge of 

 the style of gardening which prevailed at the 

 same period. The principles which regulated 

 Elizabethan gardening may be thus summa- 

 rised : — 1. To lay out the garden in accordance 

 with the domestic architecture of the period ; 

 there were the long terraces and right lines to har- 

 monise with the rectangular lines of the building 

 and the long galleries of the interior. 2. To 

 plant the beds with mixed flowers, and to let the 

 colours so intermingle and blend together that 

 the whole should produce a mosaic of rich inde- 

 terminate colour, ever new, and ever-varying, 

 as the flowers of different seasons succeeded each 

 other. The Elizabethan garden was never with- 

 out arbours, and these were either formed by, or 

 covered with, sweet-scented shrubs, such as 

 Honeysuckles, Woodbines, Musk Rose, or Eglan- 

 tine. The last-named was an especial favourite, 

 and it is frequently alluded to by the old poets 

 and dramatists. Sarnfield, for example, in 

 The Affectionate Shepherd, sings thus : — 



" I would make cabinets for thee, my love, 

 Sweet-smelling arbours made of Eglantine. 



Our forefathers had quite an inordinate pas- 

 sion for sweet-swelling plants and flowers. 



That monstrous bogey — whose death has been 

 so protracted and so hard — the Dutch style of 

 topiary work, to wit — preceded the accession of 

 William III. by over a century, for in the reign 

 of Elizabeth we have such extraneous horticul- 

 tural attributes as figures of temples, vases, 

 statues, formal canals, broad, straight walks, 

 bordered by walls of closely-cropped foliage. 

 In the time of Henry VIII. the gardens of 

 Nonsuch House were laid out in the Italian 

 style, with the inseparable pyramids, statues, 

 fountains, and so forth. 



Leland (who died in 1552) in his Itinerary, 

 which was first printed by Thomas Hearne in 

 1710, describes the gardens at Wrexhill Castle, 

 Yorks, as containing " mountes, opera topiaria, 

 writhen aboute with degrees like cokill-shells to 

 com to the top without payn." Similar examples 

 may be drawn from various sources, which are 

 essentially authentic. William Rogers, who 

 both drew and engraved the exceedingly quaint 

 title-page to the first edition of Gerard's Herbal, 



delineates this very precise and rule-of-thumb 

 style. We have, in this unintentionally valuable 

 , picture, the beds in perfectly symmetrical order, 

 and the trees very proper in outline. Mr. Rogers 

 undoubtedly brought what was to him everyday 

 fact into requisition, but he has also drawn con- 

 siderably upon his imagination for the more 

 fanciful and classic phases of his picture, par- 

 ticularly in the case of the two little ..Cupids, 

 presumably in nubibus, who are busy watering 

 with water-pots the fruit trees from overhead! 

 Probably the picture of the house, as a whole, 

 was taken from real life. 



There is, however, an absence of statue work 

 in the garden. The straight walks and geometric 

 beds were edged with Box, Thrift, and Thyme, 

 and were " like the patterns of Arabic tracery, 

 stiff and formal." Giles Fletcher gives us a 

 description of one of these formal gardens " cut 

 like a lady fair." 



" The garden like a lady fair was cut 



That day as if she slumbered in delight, 

 And to the open skies her eyes did shut. 

 * * * * 



Upon a hilly bank her head she cast, 



On which the border of vain-delight was built ; 



White and red Roses for her face were placed, 

 And for her tresses Marigolds were spilt." 



Spenser, in his Faery Queene (bk. 2, canto xii., 

 lviii.) shows the other as a charming side of the 

 picture of the English or natural style of garden 

 which was then struggling for recognition at the 

 hands of the Elizabethan designers : — 



" There the most daintie Paradise on ground 



It selfe doth offer to his sober eye, 

 In which all pleasures plenteously abownd, 



And none does others happinesse envye ; 

 The painted fiowres, the trees upshooting hye, 



The dales for shade, the hilles for breathing space. 

 The trembling groves, the christall running by, 

 And that, which all faire workes doth most aggrace, 

 The art which all that wrought appeared in no place." 



Various circumstances contributed to the fos- 

 tering of the innate love for flowers, and to give 

 an impetus to gardening ; but more particularly 

 the greatly extended intercourse with fresh 

 countries, the internal peace, and the efforts of 

 James Cole, John Tradescant and Nicholas Lete, 

 to procure plants from the new countries. 

 Many of the rare and curious plants, which were 

 such favourites in the time of Elizabeth, are 

 quite unknown in our gardens of to-day. But, 

 perhaps, we can reconcile ourselves to this loss 

 when we remember that the Potato and Tobacco 

 have not only survived, but in a wonderfully 

 developed form. W. S. 



New or Noteworthy Plants. 



ALOE (EUALOE) PENDULIFLORA, 

 Baker, n. sp* 



This new Aloe, which has just flowered at Kew for 

 the first time, was sent by Sir John Kirk from 

 Zanzibar in 1884. It is allied to A. consobrina, 

 spicata, and Hildebrandtii, the latter a fine new 

 species, lately figured in the Botanical Magazine. 



Stem simple, erect, £ inch diameter ; leaves laxly 

 disposed, spreading, ensiform, about 1 foot long, 1 

 to 1\ inch diameter, plain green, nearly flat on the 

 face, rounded on the back, the marginal prickles 

 small, deltoid, cuspidate. Raceme dense, simple, 

 erect, with a pendulous peduncle half a foot long, 

 produced from the axil of one of the upper leaves ; 

 pedicel i inch long; bracts lanceolate, much shorter 



* Aloe (Eualoe) pendulijlora, n. sp. — Caule erecto aiinplici 

 gracili ; foliia laxe dinpositia patulia enaiformibus viridibua 

 immaculatia subpedalibus, dentibus marginalibus deltoideis ; 

 pedunculo defiexo axillari semipedali ; racemo deneo simplici 

 erecto, pedicellis elongatis apice articulatia ; bracteis lanceo- 

 latia; periantbiq lufceo apiee viridulo, tubo'cylindrato elongato 

 iegmentia brevibus linguaiis; 9taminibus]breviter exaerfcis. 



than the pedicels. Perianth pale yellow, tipped 

 with green, above an inch long ; segments Ungulate, 

 less than half as long as the tube. Stamens just 

 exserted ; anthers small, oblong, red. J. G. Baker. 



Oncidium pumiluh, Lindl. 

 It is highly interesting to see to what a degree of 

 development an Orchid, usually insignificant, may 

 attain under excellent management. Oncidium 

 pumilum is usually a poor, starved thing, at whose 

 sight a modern English amateur shrinks. The 

 longest inflorescence I know of is represented in 

 Vellozo's, Flora Fluminensis. Sir Trevor Lawrence, 

 Bart., MP., P.R.H.S., has kindly sent me a leaf of 

 unusual strength, more than 5 inches long, by 

 1£ wide, marked with the usual blackish-purple 

 spots. The inflorescence is much longer than a 

 span, and the branches are longer than I ever 

 should have thought possible — between 3 and 4 

 inches. With this development the usually humble 

 plant assumes attractive features. H. G. Bchb. f. 



Cattleya intermedia Paethenia, n. var. 

 A gleaming beauty, a snow-white flowered variety, 

 kindly sent me by Mr. R. H. Measures, The Wood- 

 lands, Streatham, S.W. It came with Lajlia elegans 

 var. Tautziana, as imported by Mr. P. Sander. The 

 bulbs are said to be double the length of those of 

 Cattleya intermedia. As to this point I may state 

 that I have several times seen Cattleya intermedia 

 with bulbs quite equal to those of LiBlia elegans. 

 H. G. Schb.f. 



Cattleya labiata Gaskelliana alba, n. sub-var. 



This is a grand variety, quite white, excepting the 

 yellow throat. It was flowered at the same time by 

 Mr. R. H. Measures, of The Woodlands, Streatham, 

 London, S.W., and by Mr. P. van Imhoot, Mont 

 St. Amand, Gand. The latter gentleman [as also 

 Mr. Measures], has watched the flowers, and ascer- 

 tained that they do not turn rose-coloured. Hence 

 there is no question of the Berlin Cattleya Gaskel- 

 liana albens, that reappeared recently with Messrs. 

 H. Low & Co. H. G. Rehb. f. 



Masdevallia platybachis, Solfe, n. sp. 



This is a new and very remarkable species of Mas- 

 devallia, and one which presents such a series of 

 anomalous characters that it appears to constitute 

 a totally new section of the genus. In the first place, 

 the scape is flattened and sword-like ; hence the 

 specific name proposed. Then the tube of the sepals 

 is so extremely short as to be almost obsolete, while 

 the free portions of the sepals are not prolonged into 

 tails, as in the majority of the species. The very 

 short tube is seen in the group containing M. swertiae- 

 folia, gibberosa, ochthodes, and some five others, but 

 in this group the lip is uppermost, not underneath, as 

 in the present species (and, indeed, in all except the 

 little group above-named), while there are other 

 characters which do not agree. The plant was im- 

 ported from Costa Rica by Mr. Shuttleworth, and 

 sent to Kew in 1884, in which year a scape was pro- 

 duced. It has now become fully established and is 

 bearing several scapes, the first flower having recently 

 expanded. The following description will explain 

 its character: — 



Plant densely tufted. Leaves oblanceolate-oblong, 

 minutely tridenticulate, the midrib sharply keeled 

 behind at the apex, attenuate below into the short 

 petiole, light green, 2 — 6 inches long, 8 — 12 lines 

 broad. Scape flattened, 6 — 9 inches long, 1J line 

 broad, bearing about four empty bracts below the 

 flowering portion, each about equidistant from each 

 other, and about six flowers in succession, about 

 three-quarters of an inch long. Bracts 3 lines long, 

 the lower half sheathing, the upper half free, but the 

 sides oppressed together ; thus laterally flattened, 

 triangular-lanceolate, subobtuse. Pedicels 5 lines 

 long. Ovary li- line, sharply triangular, the angles 

 almost winged. Tube of sepals barely one-third 

 line long, the free portions lanceolate, acute, 3- 

 nerVed, the central nerve keeled, margin reflexed; 

 upper two^thirds distinctly verrucose inside, three- 



